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Brief Synopsis

Carlos Estrada, the busboy and aspiring orchestra leader at the Hotel Mirasol in Cuba, has written a song that he hopes famous singer and dancer Lolita Valdez will perform at the Carnival competition in Havana. Determined to protect her daughter, Lolita's mother, Señora Valdez, sets the sheet music on fire after Carlos slips it under the door, then dumps water on him. Carlos assumes that it was Lolita who treated him badly, and so, when Lolita hears the band play Carlos' song and sends her agent, Marge Henley, to invite the band to accompany her to Havana, Carlos refuses. Although Señora Valdez wants Lolita to sign with agent Sam Keegan and take a job in New York City, Lolita prefers to go to Carnival and runs away in Marge's car. In the meantime, Carlos and his orchestra also decide to go to Havana. Along the way, their bus breaks down at the same gas station where Lolita has stopped for gas. There the police spot Marge's car, which has been reported stolen, and to avoid the police, Lolita stows away in the bus. She tells Carlos that her name is "Dolores," and not knowing that she is actually Lolita, Carlos, who is attracted to her, agrees to let her stay. The musicians stop in a village where the daughter of one of the band members lives. Although they had hoped that she would join them as their singer, she is now the mother of several children and pregnant again. In the village, a suspicious police sergeant questions "Dolores," who claims to be an entertainer with the band. To prove it, she sings and dances, and the unsuspecting Carlos hires her to be their singer. The bus next stops in Carlos' village, where he visits his parents. The sergeant is waiting there for them and, when he learns that "Dolores" is only seventeen, charges Carlos with abducting a minor. Carlos is then forced to claim that they are married. When they are alone, Carlos asks "Dolores" if she will marry him for real and she agrees if he will make friends with "Lolita." When Marge, Sam and Señora Valdez, who have been summoned by the police, arrive at Carlos' parents' house, however, Carlos learns that "Dolores" is Lolita. Believing that Lolita only wanted a ride to Havana, Carlos resolves to have nothing to do with her and sets off to find another singer. For her part, Lolita tries to find another band. When they accidentally bump into each other in the street, Lolita reveals that it was her mother who burned the song and dumped water on Carlos, and happily reunited, Carlos and Lolita agree to compete together.